Single lung ventilation (SLV) during thoracic surgery causes important cardiopulmonary disturbances and numerous hemodynamic changes. The objective of this research project was to study the impact of the SLV on the cerebral oximetry values SctO2 and its relationship with postoperative complications.
Twenty patients were included in the first study undergoing thoracic surgeries with SLV. SctO2 was measured using the FORE-SIGHT™ (CASMED, USA) oximeter in order to study SctO2 changes along the surgery. SctO2 values as well as the standard monitoring parameters (BIS, SpO2, BP, HR) were recorded every 5 min starting from the induction until the awake of the patient. A blood gas analysis (paO2, paCO2, Hb) was performed every 15 min during the SLV.
The second study consisted of studying the relationship between minimal SctO2 values reached during SLV and the post-operative complications. For this, SOFA and Clavien scores were established for each patient, measuring the severity of early postoperative complications. Data are presented as mean and median [1st quartile, 3rd quartile; min – max].
Twenty patients from the first study showed a mean SctO2 baseline value of 80% before induction. During SLV, this value dropped to 63% and recovered to 71% directly after extubation. All the patients showed cerebral oxygen desaturations of more than 15% from baseline value and 70% of patients had SctO2 desaturations of more than 20%. Those désaturations did not correlate with any of the standard clinical monitoring parameters such as blood pressure, blood gas analysis, peripheral saturation or PaO2.
The second study, including thirty additional patients added to the previous twenty, came to confirm the results previously obtained. Furthermore, a correlation analysis was performed between minimal absolute SctO2 values obtained during SLV and postoperative complications. The fifty patients had a mean SctO2 baseline value of 80%, dropped to 64% during SLV and recovered to 71% before the end of the surgery. 82% of the patients had a decrease of SctO2 of more than 15% from baseline values and 10% of patients reached minimal saturation values between 45 and 55%. Minimal absolute values during SLV correlated with non-respiratory SOFA (R2=0.090, p=0.0287) as well as the Clavien score (R2=0.098, p=0.0201), but did not correlate with any of the standard clinical monitoring parameters (SpO2, PaO2, PaCO2, Hb). By defining a threshold value of SctO2=65%, the Odds ratio of having a non-respiratory organ failure is 2.37 (95% CI=1.18 – 4.39, p=0.043) and a complication classified as a Clavien score higher that 0 is 3.19 (95% CI=1.60 – 6.34, p=0.0272).
Thoracic surgery necessitating a SLV is associated with a significant decrease of SctO2 and minimal SctO2 values seem to positively correlate with postoperative complications.